Free recycling exists.

If you don’t believe me, talk to Ron Labrano of Lab Recylcing LLC. His company offers totally free curbside recycling service twice a month — or more, if you ask.

Labrano has offered the service since 2004, and business is picking up. Labrano and a staff of only four others are “just trying to make a little footprint” in New Orleans, he says. He offers recycling at no charge for residential customers (commercial customers pay $20 a month), doesn’t have any contracts, and he’ll pick up mixed papers, plastics and electronics once every two weeks. Lab doesn’t have the kind of overhead like larger recycling operations like Phoenix or SDT Waste & Debris, so Labrano is able to afford bins for every customer at no charge.

“And I can’t see charging someone for something that’s we’re turning around and making a profit with,” he says.

Lab sells its recyclables to paper processing plants in North and South Carolina, and its plastic and electronics are separated, cleaned and processed in their warehouse, then sold to recyclers across the country — a tough deal in the slumping recycle biz.

Lab operates from a warehouse near Franklin Avenue at 2839 N. Robertson Ave. To get a free bin at your house for pickup, call Lab at 710-4833 or email rlabrano@cox.net.